Using a ruler and a compass, I designed the arms of my saw. You can cut those with a fret saw but I cut them on my bandsaw.

Using a hand plane and sand paper I cleared the saw marks. I also drilled a few holes on my drill press.

I followed similar procedures to make the main cleat that unites the two arms.

All the saw pieces are joined with screws, washers and butterfly nuts.

I then trimmed a broken bandsaw blade to size using my wire cutter. I heated up the blade to reduce it’s hardness and drilled holes on it’s sides, using my drill press.

I used my bandsaw to make the slots for the blade to sit in. I also used my bandsaw to make a little stop block so that one arm won’t move. I attached that block, using screws. I also made pilot holes to prevent the wood from splitting.

I added the blade using screws as shafts.

For the blade’s tightening mechanism, I added a paracord kind of string which through rotation tightens the blade. This is the same technique we find on bucksaws and frame saws.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

I designed this piggy bank and used several layers of 8mm birch plywood to make it.

First of all I glued four pieces of plywood together. I then glued the inner template of my design on the pieces, using spray adhesive.

I cut the inner piece on my bandsaw. To remove the template I used WD40 rust remover.

In order for the bandsaw to cut the inner shape, I had to make a cut on the external side of it. When I finished cutting, I glued that cut, using glue and a clamp.

After that, I glued two 8mm plywood pieces together, using double sided tape. I glued the front and back template and cut the front and the back at the same time on the bandsaw. I also cut the ears and the nose of my piggy.

I glued the front piece first.

The back piece is screwed in place, so I can remove it to open the piggy bank when necessary. To do that I pre drilled a few holes with my drill and counter sinked them on my drill press.

To make the slot, I drilled a few holes and then cleaned them up with a chisel and sandpaper.

I sanded my pieces, using several scrap wood pieces as sanding blocks, in order to sand all the different areas of the piggy.

On my drill press I made a few holes to act as eyes and nose holes.

I glued the nose and the ears in place.

I did a final sanding.

I finished the piece with two coats of latex paint, while sanding with 240 grit sand paper, between coats.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

I just got a bandsaw and decided to make a bandsaw box out of a few scrap pieces of birch plywood.

I first glued up the 3 pieces of 18mm birch plywood.

I designed my snowman’s template and glued it on the plywood using spray adhesive.

The trick with those bandsaw boxes, is to make the cuts in the correct order.

First I cut the outer shape on the bandsaw. Then I cut the back side of the box. Then I cut the drawers. I continue with the front and back of each drawer and then move on to their inner section.

I glued the parts of each drawer together.

To cut the space for the drawers I need to cut a way for my blade to pass. I glued those gaps and I also glued the back of the drawer.

I spayed rust remover to unglue the template.

I sanded the drawers on my belt sander. With a scrap wood piece and sanding paper, I sanded the sides of my box.

I drilled holes on the drawers on my drill press. The holes will receive dowels that act as handles. I also turned a dowel as a carrot nose. To do that I mounted the dowel on my drill press to act as lathe and used sand paper to give it a conical shape.

I cut the hands of the snowman on the bandsaw. I used my rotary tool to make them pilot holes and added nails to act as supporters. I glued the hands in place with two part epoxy glue.

I spayed all the pieces with white primer. I gave them two coats with sanding between them.

I then used blue and orange acrylic paint for the gloves, buttons and nose of my snowman.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

First of all I designed my crossbow templates in illustrator. I then printed out the templates and joined the A4 pages using tape.

The build begun with the body of the bow. I cut two pieces of plywood with my circular saw. I glued the two pieces together using double sided tape. I glued the template using spray adhesive and cut out the body using my jigsaw.

I sanded the body with a sanding block. For the curves I used my metal ruler as a sanding block in order to follow the curves of my design, while sanding.

I sprayed the template with rust remover and took it easily off the wood.

I used my fret saw to cut the smaller pieces of my template.

For extra strength, I glued a few blocks of wood between the two sides of my bow’s body.

I sanded the remaining parts using my belt sander and my metal ruler as a sanding block.

For the trigger mechanism I fist added the trigger. I first drilled a hole on my drill press.

I used my dremel tool and metal cutting disc to grind off a piece, from a few screwable metal rings.

I connected the trigger with string holder using my metal rings and a folded rubber band. I also nailed and glued a stop block. I added the string holder raiser and added a screw to act as stopper.

I preassembled the body and added screws to keep everything in place.

Using my rotary tool again with a metal cutting disc, I trimmed my screws flush with the bow’s body.

I screwed another stop block for the string holder on top.

I screwed the bow in place. I added screws to hold the string. I also added two guides for the arrow. I nailed and glued them in place.

The string of the bow is just a few rubber bands connected with each other.

On my table saw, I made a simple arrow. I Created a v at the end of it using a chisel. I did that to give the string a place to push the arrow forward.

My bow is ready.

Please be extremely careful if you try this build. If you do so, do it at your own risk and never point the bow to people or animals!

Saturday, November 21, 2015

First of all I cut the sides of the box to size, out of 8mm birch plywood, on my table saw.

I then set my table saw blade to 45 degrees and started cutting the side miters on my cross cut sled.

I glued the carcass of the box using wood glue and my picture frame clamp.

For the bottom and the top of the box I used 4mm plywood, which I roughly cut on my table saw.

I glued all the pieces together.

I trimmed the caps flush with my router, using a flush trim bit. I used my router upside down as router table.

I cut the box in two pieces on my table saw. Before the last cut, I added a wooden shim on the upper side. The shim’s width matches the width of my saw blade. I did that to prevent the top of the box from moving while I made the last cut.

My CNC machine did a good job, on carving a decorative design on the top of my box.

I applied 4 coats of clear, water based varnish on my box, while lightly sanding between coats.

I added legs on the bottom of my case.

I added the hinges using screws. I also made pilot holes with my rotary tool, before adding the screws.

I used longer screws than I needed. So I trimmed the screws flush, using my rotary tool and a grinding disc.

My case was now ready. I added the foam base, the pistol and it’s accessories.